Approximately seven years earlier, in the Russani Sector, vicinity of Station 271

Garin's fighter hung in space, around him Toth, Harth, Matrin and Kalan all floated in their own craft. He and Toth had the only fighters left; the others were all flying in bombers.

"Flight leader, we have them on our sensors, here they come."

There was no fear in flight control's voice; he was simply resigned just like the rest of them to the fact that they couldn't beat the Rebels. It was a strange feeling Garin mused, it wasn't despair, more like acceptance he supposed. The damaged dreadnaught dropped into view and began maneuvering to engage the Viper all around the blocky capital ship X-wings, Y-wings, and the myriad of craft used by the indigenous flyers popped into space as well. They wouldn't have the five remaining Imperial pilots on their sensors, as they'd been doing the past few days Garin and the others were hiding in the sensor shadow of the station. Though the Rebels weren't nearly as stupid as the indigs; they'd figured out pretty quickly what the game was and knew to wait for the Imperials to move. The indigs weren't that patient. They charged in with weapons blazing, the station opened up first, its missile banks sending volleys of warheads into space, moments later its laser and ion batteries opened fire at extreme range.

Garin watched as a handful of the indigs winked out of existence and smiled grimly. At least they were taking some of the bastards with them.

"Let's go get them." He said into the squadron channel.

"Right behind you Gar, happy hunting, see you soon." Toth said cheerily.

"Moving to engage," Harth said stoically, his bomber moving out from the stations shadow.

"We're on your wing Diamond One." Came Kalan's voice.

Garin frowned. "Diamond One?"

"Yeah," said Matrin, "because he's as hard as one, and about as talkative."

"Right, Toth want to shoot them first?"

Toth chuckled as he followed on Garin's wing. "Nah, the odds are bad enough as it is."

"Agreed," Harth said calmly as his bomber loosed its first volley of missiles.

"I'm so glad that we all agree that you shouldn't shoot us!" Matrin said, Garin smiled, he actually sounded annoyed.

"That dreadnaught is moving in on the Viper think she can handle herself?" Kalan said worriedly.

Garin stole a look at his sensors. "I hope so, the Captain doesn't have a whole lot left in her though, she's pretty shot up."

"So is the dreadnaught," Harth stated.

Garin smiled, despite everything Harth's simple and direct manner made things seem so much easier even in the middle of something as hopeless as this. He fired a burst of laser fire into his target and had the satisfaction of watching the shields buckle and the hull melt under the attack. He was saving his four missiles for the Rebel fighters; they were much more dangerous than the indigs. A burst of laser fire shot past him and he rolled, reminding himself that just because they were poorly trained didn't make them harmless. He'd be damned if he was going to get killed by one of these fools, if he was going to die, it would have to be a cap ship or a Rebel pilot that took him down.

His sensor showed his pursuer vanishing, he smiled. "Thanks Toth."

"No problem, want to dust my tail now?"

Garin pulled his control yoke back and looped over, Toth's fighter sped beneath him and a moment later the pursuing ship followed suit. He opened fire and tore into the top shields, the fighter rolled away, hull intact but Toth at least was safe for the moment. He formed on Toth's wing and followed him into the oncoming Rebel fighters as they finally joined the fight. Switching to his missiles he set them to staggered dual launch and flipped his reticule over the nearest Y-wing and waited for his target lock to chime, he pulled the trigger, one missile launched, and then the second one fired. The first missile hit the Y-wing's shields; the second punched through the weakened defensive screen and blew the burly craft to pieces. Toth and Garin blew through the debris field from their kills and found themselves locked in combat with a trio of X-wings.

"This is Captain Siril, Lieutenant Durives do you read?"

"Copy Captain," Garin managed through gritted teeth as he pulled his fighter through a series of evasive maneuvers in an attempt to get clear of the two X-wings that had picked him up.

"It's been an honor serving with you, but I'm afraid that I won't be present to see you through this, I've transferred the ships logs to the station, if it survives people will hear about our bravery. Good luck."

The channel went dead; Garin stole a look at his sensors and watched as the blue blip that indicated the Viper shifted course, and a moment later collided into the red blip of the Rebel dreadnaught.

"Does anyone have a visual on the Viper?"

"Kalan here, she's gone, the dreadnaught is hulled too, the station is finishing her off. Siril had one heck of a send off."

"Roger that." Ice gripped Garin's insides as he fought for control over his voice. "Regroup at the station when you can, we'll cover it from direct attack for as long as possible."

To his relief he received four confirmations, everyone was still in one piece for the time being. Though if he couldn't shake his two friends then he might not be for much longer. He rolled out from another burst of laser fire and spun his fighter around in an attempt to come in on the flank of his opponent. The first X-wing made it past him before he could fire but the second wasn't nearly as lucky; he triggered one of his two remaining missiles and then fired with his lasers. The missile hit the shields and the laser fire buckled them, piercing the hull and detonating the craft.

He used his speed advantage to outrun the other fighter, rocketing through space, and the occasional swarm of fighters, towards the relative safety of the station's weaponry. The Rebel craft broke away when they came within range of the station, however the indigs were not nearly as smart and they continued to pursue the five fleeing Imperials right into the firing arc of the station. The result was spectacular, a light show worthy of any celebration. Garin twisted his yoke and brought his fighter to a halt beneath the station, watching the Rebel and indigenous fighters reforming beyond firing range of the station.

"They're going to line up for missile runs." Toth said darkly.

"Agreed," Harth stated deadpan.

"And we can't do anything about it." Kalan muttered sullenly.

Garin nodded agreement, unless they wanted to go out from the safety of the station's guns there really wasn't anything any of them could do to stop the imminent attack. He tapped his finger impatiently on the control yoke, watching the enemy blips form for their attack helplessly. His sensor alarms went off and a blue wedge appeared at the edge of the screen, smaller blue blips began billowing out around it as several blue bars and ovoid shapes appeared in system and began dumping their own swarms of blue.

"This is the IFS Avenger, all Rebel ships are to power down immediately, this is your only warning."

Garin smiled as the Rebel's and their allies scattered in all directions, he was too giddy to care that the next attack likely would have finished him, their reinforcements were here finally.

"Avenger this is Second Lieutenant Durives, we're glad you could join us."

"Pilot, stay off the com line unless you have something useful to say," there was a pause, then, "we're glad we arrived in time."

Garin quieted at that, sighing heavily; in time was a relative term he supposed that since the station was still intact that the Avenger and her fleet were in time. However the Viper was gone, along with her entire compliment excepting five pilots.

"Alright survivors, head back to the station. We'll wait and see what happens next."

"I hear that," Toth said. "I haven't gotten a good nights sleep since this started."

"Viper pilots, you are to divert to the secondary hangar aboard the Avenger immediately."

"Avenger control, our posting is aboard 271."

"Copy that pilot, you are to divert to the Avenger's secondary hangar."

"Well they're polite." Matrin grumbled.

"Just follow me in," Garin said his own confusion evident in his voice.

Garin climbed out of his hatch, helmet under his arm and dropped to the catwalk, the secondary hangar was normally for VIPs and other important or sensitive items. He didn't really understand why they'd be diverted here of all places. Or even to the Avenger at all, certainly any of the other ships in the task force could have taken them. Toth and the others clambered out of their craft further down the line and joined him.

"So why do we get the best room in the house?" Toth murmured.

Kalan smiled, "they probably have some of those women I was hoping for waiting for us heroes."

Matrin looked at him skeptically. "What is it with you and blind women?"

"Enough, both of you," Harth said coolly, he looked at Garin. "Sir?"

Garin shrugged, "don't look at me; I have no idea what we're supposed to be doing."

The tapping of boots behind them forestalled any further banter, Garin turned to see two officers coming towards them. He frowned; one of them was blue, literally. His skin was a dark shade of blue and he had piercing, pupil-less eyes. Their gaze was chilling, and then Garin's eyes strayed down to the captain's pips on the officer's chest. Training kicked in then and he saluted with the others, the alien captain came to a stop and eyed them for a moment before meeting Garin's eyes.

"You are the leader of these men?"

Garin looked over at the others, he wished he could say no but really he was for all intents and purposes. That meant though that he had to take responsibility for the deaths of those that had served with him as well.

He took a deep breath. "Yes sir."

The captain nodded solemnly. "I took a brief look at the Viper's logs; the station commander transferred them as soon as the Avenger jumped in. Your name came up frequently, it seems Captain Siril had quite a high opinion of your ability to lead and survive against all odds."

Garin swallowed, the Captain's voice and eyes gave nothing away. "Sir, I failed to save the Viper and ten pilots died under my command."

The Captain waved his hand dismissively but Garin saw the other officer's look of disdain, he knew he'd failed, why was this being dragged out?

"You accomplished your primary objective despite insurmountable odds and your tactics enabled the destruction of two Rebel warships and assist in the destruction of a third. That is quite an impressive thing for any mere fighter pilot to have a claim to."

Garin opened his mouth again but the Captain raised his hand for silence, he reached over and his aide handed him a datapad. He tapped the screen a few times and then handed the datapad to Garin. He looked down at them, and then looked up at the Captain his eyes wide in shock.

The Captain smiled. "You and your men are transferred to the Avenger you will be assigned to my gun and missile boat squadron for the coming campaign. Also in light of your heroic defense of Station 271 all of you are receiving a promotion. Congratulations Lieutenants."

He turned to leave, Garin saluted, still stunned by what had just happened.

Harth pushed past him. "Excuse me sir, who will we be serving under?"

The Captain turned back to look at them calmly. "I am Captain Thrawn, welcome to the Avenger."

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"That was the first time you met Thrawn?"

I nodded, leaning back slightly, shifting as I tried to get the restraints to sit evenly. "Yes, I'd never even heard of him before then."

"How did you react to having a non-human captain?"

I blinked and looked at her quietly. "Not all Imperials are xenophobic, just as not all Rebels were righteous freedom fighters."

She glared at me, "that's answering the question Commander."

"And you're assuming that I'm a monster just because I picked the wrong side of this war."

She considered me for a moment before looking back at her datapad. "What did you think of Thrawn?"

I shrugged, my mouth twisting up in a smile. Did she seriously think I would cooperate when she obviously had so many preconceptions about me? That was certainly a laugh.

She looked up, "Commander?"

I raised an eyebrow, she glared. "I do not have to apologize to an Imperial prisoner."

"I apologized for Alderan." I pointed out coyly.

Her face reddened and I smiled, she was supposed to be interrogating me. "Commander, your apology does nothing to change the fact that my entire family died. Go to hell."

I leaned back quietly. "I joined the Empire after my mother was raped and killed by so called Rebel freedom fighters in the slum I lived in. At the time I'd heard that the Rebels were nothing like that, that they fought for freedom and liberty for all. So I figured that they were just the typical trash that seeps into the underworld and moved on despite everything. Then one day I saw them on the news, they'd been executed during an attempt to sabotage the army's cloning facilities, they'd confessed their Rebel connections and even given away the Rebel cells they knew of on Coruscant."

My eyes were ice cold as I stared at her. "I signed up for the Carida Academy that day, and never looked back."

Hey eyes flickered nervously. "It didn't say anything about that in your file, I'm sorry for assuming anything about you."

She said it hesitantly and uncertainly, but she said it at least. "Shouldn't you be more forceful with me? It seems there are more…efficient methods for soliciting my cooperation."

"We do not torture prisoners." She said again.

"Fair enough, I thought Thrawn was our savior and that it didn't matter what color his skin was."

"You stayed with him for the remainder of the Rusanni campaign?"

"All five of us served throughout the campaign flying in the boats, we eventually managed to capture the leaders of the two warring groups and force them into a ceasefire. Thrawn was called back to Imperial Center after that, and we went with him…."

Approximately seven years earlier, Imperial Center, the Imperial Palace

"Quite a show don't you think?" Toth asked, tendering his wine gently.

"I suppose." Garin said quietly, looking around at all the finery.

Toth smiled slightly, putting a hand on Garin's shoulder. "Hard being back?"

"I just never saw anything like this is all, I mean there I was living down in the gutters and all this was happening above my head."

"It's the rich and privileged, what can you do? I'm going to try and bring a girl back with me."

Garin snorted and eyed the crowd; he didn't think he'd want to sleep with anyone here, too many strings attached. He looked around for the others and found Harth speaking with several military men quietly; they seemed very interested in him for whatever reason, probably the fact that the newly made Admiral Thrawn had brought him as a special guest. He found Kalan and Matrin together as usual; they'd gathered a ring of younger female guests around them and were busy making them giggle themselves silly. He shook his head; at least they were having fun.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Durives?"

He and Toth turned to see a dazzling red head with piercing green eyes staring at them.

"That's me."

She nodded simply. "Assemble your men, my Master wishes to speak with you privately."

"Your Master?" Toth asked curiously, neither of them had budged, this girl needed to give them more before they did so.

She eyed them in annoyance, the scowl wrinkling her features. "The Emperor."

Garin's blood froze, and he was pretty sure that Toth's did the same. "Y-yes of course, we'll get them together."

She nodded and made her way through the crowd, Garin turned to look at Toth who was suddenly downing his wine like it was the first drink he'd had after years in a desert.

"Get Harth, I'll get the clowns."

Toth scowled. "Great, first the Emperor wants to see us personally, and now you want me to get the guy most likely to deck me."

Garin snorted as they parted, he glanced around, looking for the red head again, spying her waiting off against a wall he continued moving towards Kalan and Matrin. What on earth did the Emperor want five pilots for?